When studio gear is connected digitally, the expectation is a perfect audio signal link down to the least significant bit. LynxONE delivers on this expectation by providing bit-perfect, 24-bit digital I/O at sample rates up to 96 kHz.

Supporting both AES/EBU and S/PDIF formats through software selection, LynxONE locks on to input signals from any studio device. Signals degraded by long cable runs are not a problem. LynxONE employs two phase-locked loop stages on its digital input that clean up incoming signals and offer excellent jitter rejection.

Both input and output are transformer coupled providing both common mode rejection to tackle studio noise and isolation that prevents ground loops.

24-bit A/D and D/A converters require a stable, low-jitter clock in order to accurately sample and reproduce audio signals. LynxONE incorporates a custom phase-locked loop (PLL) based sample clock generator with extremely low jitter. In addition, the PLL has wide control registers to allow precise frequency tuning in minute increments and support a variety of clock sources.

LynxONE is very adept as a synchronous slave or as a master timing source in any audio or video production studio. In slave mode, it will accurately lock to word clocks with frame-accurate phase. It will also lock to AES/EBU and S/PDIF signals, as well as other standard clock references. As a source, LynxONE generates a low-jitter word clock from its precision oscillator or from any one of the selected slave mode sources. LynxONE works especially well with digital video capture cards that include clock outputs for perfect A/V synchronization.

BNC connections provide clock I/O connections to external equipment. Likewise, internal clock connections to other computer cards are accommodated with LynxONE's board-mounted headers.

Speaking of other computer cards, if more analog or digital I/O channels are required, up to four LynxONE's can be connected to provide a phase-locked multi-track system!

Having the ability to easily monitor the recording inputs is mandatory during overdubbing sessions. LynxONE allows the selection of either the analog or digital inputs as the monitor source. This signal can be mixed with playback audio on either the analog or digital outputs or both simultaneously. In addition to providing flexible monitoring, this capability allows "stand-alone" A/D or D/A conversion completely on board LynxONE. Because mixing is performed in hardware, recording input-to-output delay is one sample period. This equates to an extremely low 22 microseconds at a 44.1 kHz sample rate.

Operation of the analog and digital inputs and outputs on the LynxONE is definitely not an either/or situation. They can be used simultaneously to provide up to four channels of recording and playback. The independent data streams associated with each I/O correspond to standard Windows multimedia devices. This architecture allows simple control of I/O routing using device selection menus available in most audio applications.

Handling multiple streams of 24-bit audio data without a hiccup requires a dedicated real-time processor. LynxONE incorporates a proprietary I/O processing engine that routes and buffers data, manages I/O resources, and communicates with the host computer without the latencies and overhead associated with general purpose signal processors.

To accommodate unexpected latencies in a computer-based audio workstation, especially those caused by bus-hogging graphics cards, large 8 Kbyte sample buffers support each audio stream to maintain continuous glitch-free audio.

LynxONE's two MIDI ports were not an afterthought during the design phase. They were designed from the ground up using FPGA technology. The ports are independent and support up to 32 MIDI channels, with each having both input and output. Deep 64-byte receive and transmit buffers prevent lost data.

Key to accurate timing for MIDI sequencing and playback and time code synchronization is low latency message passing to and from the MIDI ports and host computer. The LynxONE's MIDI ports include critical-message-handling technology that packs real time Note On, Note Off, and MTC messages for rapid transfers over the PCI bus.

For any computer-based audio product, hardware is only half of the equation. For this reason, half of the Lynx engineering team is devoted to device driver coding. Using our many years of experience across a variety of operating systems, we have designed rock-solid drivers for Windows 95/98 and for Windows NT on Intel and DEC Alpha platforms.

In light of concerns about latency, we created an efficient data transfer mechanism in the LynxONE drivers that, working in concert with the fast response of the hardware, delivers excellent throughput without the sluggish response times commonly experienced in PC-based workstations.

The drivers provide audio and MIDI support through standard Windows multimedia interfaces which provides compatibly with all popular third party software. The MIDI driver supports multiple clients to allow synchronization of several applications to a single MIDI source.

We designed the LynxONE so a user can be up and running in a matter of minutes. The installation procedure is simple and painless - no DMA to be configured, no interrupts or I/O's to set, and no jumpers to switch! LynxONE takes full advantage of the plug and play capabilities of the PCI Bus.

The LynxONE Setup program automatically determines whether to install the Windows 95/98 driver or Windows NT driver based on your current operating system.

A now for the kitchen sink… LynxONE includes two professional quality cables sets. The Audio cable is six feet in length and provides XLR connections for analog and digital I/O on shielded twisted pair cable. The two-foot MIDI/Clock cable supplies DIN and BNC connections for MIDI and clock I/O, again using shielded cable.

The minimum computer system required for the LynxONE is a 90MHz Pentium-class or Alpha processor with an EGA or VGA display and adapter, 16MB of RAM, Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 and one empty PCI Slot. We recommend at least a 166MHz Pentium-class or Alpha processor with a S-VGA display and adapter, 32MB of RAM, Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 and one empty PCI Slot.